01.28.09

January 28th Webletter

Posted in JTS News at 11:52 am by jtsblog

Jas. Townsend and Son Website Newsletter

New Products - Chocolate Pot and Brass Scales

Ok, so here’s some good news for you. Whatayaknow! The network news reports now say that chocolate’s good for you!

Did you know that despite its sweet reputation, some studies suggest that cocoa has a low glycemic index? In other words, kind of like oatmeal, it doesn’t send your sugar levels spiking. Hmm…what shall I have for breakfast today? Oatmeal or chocolate? Oatmeal, or CHOCOLATE?

Likewise, cocoa is full of antioxidants, and vital minerals like copper, magnesium, potassium, and calcium. So be warned next time you try to smuggle a candy bar through an airport metal detector! And it has this compound in it called Phenylthyamine, which triggers the release of endorphins in your brain, helping you feel better about all the other bad stuff you hear in the news. Life’s not so bad as long as you have chocolate, eh?!

But is this latest news flash on chocolate really all that new? How about a little historical perspective on the topic. Let’s start by seeing what 17th-century physician, William Hughes, had to say about the toothsome treat:

“Chocolate nourishes and preserves health entirely, yet causes a pleasant and natural sleep and rest. Drunk twice a day, a man may very well subsist therewith, not taking anything else at all.”

Or how about Quincy’s Medical Depository of 1782:

“It must be good likewise not only in all intentions as a nourisher, and a restorative, but as an emollient, by lubricating and relaxing the passages.”

Um…what kind of chocolate did you put in those brownies, Dr. Quincy?”

And while other television news reports bombard us with calls for change on the political landscape, let’s look at what one of the greatest politicians and prognosticators, Thomas Jefferson, had to say regarding the ever-so-humble cocoa bean:

“The superiority of chocolate, both for health and nourishment, will soon give it the preference over tea and coffee in America which it has in Spain.”

Is it any wonder that, in 1753, Swedish naturalist, Linnaeus, officially named the cacao tree, Theobroma cacao, which translated from Latin means, “Food of the gods”?

While sailors had for years smuggled the tasty treat ashore to the colonies from Jamaica and Cuba, some say chocolate wasn’t officially introduced to the colonies until 1765. That’s when British state commissioner, John Hannon, and medical doctor, James Baker, built the first chocolate factory in Massachusetts. Even so, chocolate tended to be an aristocratic food. While it was very popular in colonial America, it was a fairly rare treat for the average man.

Throughout the 18th century, chocolate was primarily either a drink or an ingredient in other foods. Cakes of sweetened cocoa were eventually developed by some physicians and pharmacologists to make it easier to use. It wasn’t until 1847, when descendents of the Quaker Chocolatier, Joseph Fry, figured out how to separate cocoa butter from the cocoa bean, that the chocolate bar was finally born. Wait a second, I’m confused. I thought the Quakers did oatmeal?

And so, chocolate lives on! And that’s why Jas. Townsend & Son now celebrates this nourishing, restorative, relaxing, and LUBRICATING treat by introducing a new piece to the pottery line, a redware chocolate pot! Adapted from a specimen seen in a painting by Rococo artist, Jean Baptiste Simeon Chardin, c. 1760, this redware pot is perfect for making piping hot chocolate.

This chocolate pot measures approximately 7-1/2” high and is about 4” in diameter at the base. It’s lined with clear, lead-free food-safe glaze. The pot will hold up to about 3 cups. Intended to be used over a low fire or hot coals, I’ve tested this thing on a gas range top over low heat (which I can’t really recommend for normal use) and it held up fine. The key is that you only put the pot over your heat source while it has liquid in it. Oh, and did I mention that it comes with a 12” wooden milling stick (known as a “molinillo” to the Spanish and a “moussoir” to the French). You use the milling stick as a blender to make your chocolate frothy by spinning it between the palms of your hands. Initial supplies of this chocolate pot are limited, but we’ll be making more.

One more word about the care of redware pottery: This redware Chocolate Pot can be washed in the dishwasher. We recommend, however, that caution be used regarding its use in a microwave oven. This chocolate pot is made of low-fire clay, meaning the unglazed portion of the clay body remains porous and absorbent. It could be prone to cracking or becoming extremely hot if used in a microwave. And as stated above, do not leave your empty pot over your heat source as cracking may occur due to overheating. Hand wash your milling stick.

Jas. Townsend also sells cakes of sweetened cocoa, called “El Popular” Chocolate (item # CH-952) for $3.00 per 7.5 oz. bar. But if while in character, you simply can’t afford chocolate, you can use your chocolate pot to make a stiff cup of coffee.

VIVA LA CHOCOLATE!

Sources:
www.allchocolate.com, www.westhillsfriends.org, www.barry-callebaut.com, www.abcgallery.com/C/chardin/chardin42.html

Recipe for Hot Chocolate, using El Popular Chocolate

Place 1 to 3 cups of milk into the chocolate pot and set over coals or a low fire. Shave or grate El Popular Chocolate, one square per cup of liquid used, and set aside. Once the milk reaches a good simmer, remove the pot from the fire and add the shaved chocolate to the milk. Spinning the milling stick between the palms of your hands, mill the mixture until thoroughly blended. Serve.

New Small Brass Scales

No purveyor of the medical arts or merchant of fine trinkets should go without his brass balance scales. This little tool of the trade come complete with balance and weights (10g, 5g, 2g (2ea), 1g, 200mg, 100mg, 50mg, 20mg, 10mg, and 5mg). Closes up into an attractive 7.25” x 4” x 1” velour-covered box, easily transportable in one’s pocket or pouch.

“El Popular” Chocolate CH-952 $3.00	Redware Chocolate Pot $28.00	Small Brass Scales S-3280 $12.00

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01.21.09

Jan 23rd Webletter

Posted in Documentation, JTS News at 2:34 pm by jtsblog

Hello! I wish to take this opportunity to first of all thank you for your business, and secondly, to introduce Jas. Townsend & Son’s new website newsletter. You’re receiving this because you’ve created a profile on our website and have indicated you would like to receive our newsletters. Well, with roughly 10,000 people signed up to receive our newsletter, we figure it’s about time we put one together. As a customer of http://www.jas-townsend.com you will receive what we hope will be regular notifications of new products, special offers, clearance sales, as well as quirky little facts, tidbits, and ideas that we think you’ll find very interesting and, who knows, maybe even useful.

New Product Line!

A new line of products we’ve been working on is 18th century medical items. Now granted, we can’t go selling medicines, so we have to say that what we offer is for historic reenactment purposes only. With that in mind, we’ve introduced a group of ointments listed below which are adaptations from 18th century recipes.

We recently picked up a fascinating medical reference book, the 1782 edition of “The Complete English Dispensatory.” While we’ve had a number of good laughs over some of the exerpts we’ve read, others have caused us to ponder either how amazing it is that anyone survived, or how scarey it is that certain processes have changed very little over the centuries. I have included an interesting formula verbatim for your enjoyment.

"Unguentum e Nicotiana (or Ointment of Tobacco)."Take of the depurated juice of tobacco, of fresh hog's lard

diligently washedof each one pound, and boil them together to the consumption of the juice;then add of Venice

turpentine, four ounces: and of round birthwort in powder,two ounces; and make them into an ointment.

"This is originally taken from a Dispensatory of Laurentius Jobertus. Its firstprescriber gives it an extraordinary

character for dissipatingscrophulous tumours, and healing green wounds; but the modern practicedirects it chiefly

to cutaneous foulnesses: though it is so uncleanly a medicineat best as to be offensive to nice persons."

Remedium Totus Ointment P-4040 $7.50	Sulfur Symphytum Ointment P-4042 $7.50	Z Ointment P-4044 $7.50
Insectus Repellum Ointment P-4046 $7.50

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01.05.09

Third Annual Pierceton IN Living History Fair

Posted in Uncategorized at 2:12 pm by jtsblog

Yep, it is happening again on February 14th and 15th, 2009

The Saturday hours are 9 to 5 and the Sunday hours are 9 to 4

The event will be held at the Old Depot here in Pierceton. Vendors and suppliers of things like knives, guns, powder horns, clothing , cookware, art, crafts, furniture, leather, books, and more of the 18th and 19th century stuff. Presentations will be given by area historical interest groups.

Admission is $3.00 at the door, children 7 to 12 will be $1.00 and 6 and under are free.

for more info: Kosciusko County CVB, 800-800-6090 or livinghistory@kconline.com

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Jas. Townsend and Son, Compendium in Progress

01.28.09

January 28th Webletter

Jas. Townsend and Son Website Newsletter

New Products - Chocolate Pot and Brass Scales

Recipe for Hot Chocolate, using El Popular Chocolate

New Small Brass Scales

01.21.09

Jan 23rd Webletter

New Product Line!

01.05.09

Third Annual Pierceton IN Living History Fair

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